World’s Most Unique Roundabout & Whole Village in a Cave | Mystery Places | Free Documentary

[Music] [Music] so [Music] today we start off on naru the smallest republic in the world the tiny island was once the richest country in the world [Music] on an average the highest number of overweight people live here it definitely is the craziest island in the world do you want proof the sports field is actually an airfield you don't believe it we'll take you to the tiny island in the middle of the south seas [Music] landing is a true challenge for every pilot the runway is just two kilometers short we count ourselves lucky to have been granted the clearance to land because normally the runway serves other purposes people are practicing sports here the runway is the only sports field on the entire island that's why the islanders use it as a walking track sporting ace adam does his laps here every evening i walk about every night after work hey i've got some friends like my friend yeah get to kill company along the runway is a sports field only while no airplanes are approaching though well we're doing it because we want to get fit and stay healthy and live longer live longer the practical side to the island an airplane is due only three times a week but that's when something is going on here [Music] the main road is blocked off because the plane has to cross it in order to arrive at the international airport [Music] you don't think that's crazy enough what about this the country is so tiny it takes only 15 minutes to drive around it we do the test and in fact the country is so tiny a whole round trip takes you just over 15 minutes and that's just because you are not allowed to drive any faster than 40 kilometers an hour on the entire island the great advantage not a single traffic light on the whole island interferes with the traffic that's why the islanders are passionate car drivers on a monthly average every inhabitant drives hold on tight to your seat an incredible 6 000 kilometers that's 10 times around the entire island every day it's all just leisure activity the islanders simply love cruising around one of them is yali bieden he takes us along on his nightly cruise but why does everyone keep driving in circles here and then i'm reading and because everyone is driving around in circles all the time you even have traffic jams this tiny island has a traffic problem by the way everyone has the right of way there are no annoying sobriety checks still not crazy enough well check this out this tiny country used to be the richest country in the world wealth we had a somewhat different expectation it doesn't seem that way at all anymore the houses on the island are shabby and the cars are well not really fit for traffic but this small country really used to be the richest country in the world to prove the point rusted luxury limos at the side of the road wherever you look they are literally everywhere this is how they ended up here if a car broke down 40 years ago it would not be repaired the people living here were so rich they would just leave it there and buy a new one people could afford not holding onto coins most people just throw them away if you ask for 20 cents you got a dollar like it was the lifestyle was just money was thrown away their attitude towards us was money grows on trees that has changed but why was the island so fabulously rich the reason the soil of the island it looks normal but in truth it's a phosphate the purest in the whole world a valuable raw material which is used for manuring among other things most of it has been mined the remains will probably last for another 20 years the crazy thing about it today the country is bankrupt the government has wasted billions of dollars there is nothing left the island lies in the south seas but there are hardly any tourists hard to believe since the south seas stand for idyllic beaches great weather and lots of sun a true tourist paradise above and under water [Music] but getting here is expensive and there are just two hotels they are well a bit out of date like this one here even though you pay more than 100 per room and night we take a closer look and realize great hotels would definitely not be a reason for coming here at least the picture on the wall evokes emotions of the south seas hygiene does not play a key role here which results in bad ratings for the hotels wherever we look we run into the reminders of long gone guests and most of the time the water has gone too [Music] and all of this at the price of a four-star hotel that's why only few tourists come here but do the beaches make up for it rather not there are no tourists here but a lot of rubbish a paradise looks different sightseeing trips to the island's mainland aren't worthwhile tropical beauty or palm tree forests are nowhere to be found everything is hollowed out by the decade-long digging for phosphates and people have just left it that way but we have found one of the craziest hobbies of the world here it takes true men and huge loudspeakers and tolerant neighbors this is the most important day of the year for john and his friends they're off to a sound competition the self-built stereo is the pride and joy of the neighborhood and has been especially tuned for the competition but what makes you pursue a hobby like that like the bass and like good sound like the bass like you can feel it something like that and the top one so that you can hear it black clearly that's the one best after two long hours the boss is finally happy and the stereo is dismounted the purpose of his sound check we have no idea in any case the team prepares for a memory shot afterwards they're off at a snail's pace our running camera team causes friendly mockery and laughter the trip to the location of the competition is made in the team's vehicle which has obviously been used for many sound competitions we travel across half the country but since it is the smallest republic in the world that's not such a big deal after only 10 minutes the team has arrived nauru is definitely a crazy country the local women all play bingo obsessively hundreds of them hang out in an old factory building in a very relaxed way the whole night through they compare the numbers called out to the ones on their sheets if they are identical prize money awaits them it's not that easy to win the sound competition the opponents show up with almost the same speakers but in more trendy colors there are no discotheques on the craziest island in the world that's why the sound contest is such a crowd puller but the people here don't dance to the music they stand around and sit around the loudspeakers simultaneously blast the competent audience at full volume while every stereo plays a different [Applause] [Music] tune [Music] after three hours they're all done and would in fact be ready for the jury but the jury hasn't arrived yet so everyone just continues to sit around and wait which by the way is a speciality of this crazy island and then a power cut ends the competition the decision is delayed until next year if you have the impression there are especially many overweight people on this island it's true there is no other place in the world with more overweight people than in nauru the people aren't just a little more corpulent here than in other places according to figures provided by the who more than 70 of the population is obese and 90 are overweight [Music] any clothes shop on the island proves the point in this case the fashion outlet also serves as a supermarket the largest size off the shelf is an impressive six-fold xl we find trousers into which two people could easily fit anywhere else and mind you these are standard sizes on the island [Music] but why on earth are all these people overweight we take a look at where they buy their food the largest supermarket on the island it is the most important supply center for the whole country with its 10 000 inhabitants we want to know what is the locals favorite food [Music] one important line we have is corn beef and it's uh narun's like a lot of corn beef as well in in the canned lines and yeah we've just got a one variety at the moment we're waiting for all the other ones to still come in [Music] there are mostly tins cans and non-perishable things the island is so remote it can only be supplied by ship that's why all the meat and sausages are deep frozen oh yes what you see here is the fruit and vegetable department of the island's largest supermarket very sparing of supplies well as you can see there are gaps there because we're waiting for our chillers to be offloaded from the ship a lot of the stuff you know doesn't even even have time to hit the shelf they just land here we open the boxes and they're all gone vegetables are scarce goods on the island one reason the container ships which supply the country with food have to take the far route from asia across the pacific ocean to arrive here it takes them weeks fresh goods would turn bad on the way but the island isn't self-sufficient either for a strange reason the inhabitants don't know how to grow vegetables that's why foreign experts come to the vegetable farm to teach them back in the days when the island was so very rich people had simply stopped growing vegetables i only heard from the people all the people that they used to grow before but i didn't see it but i only had it everything forgotten that's why the hopes for vegetable farming lie on the young students of horticulture they attend special classes on the vegetable farm the question is whether they really want to become vegetable farmers one day no to be honest it's gonna take a long long time to see everything happen but at least we try if you didn't try you get nothing so after this we try the problem is no healthy diet without vegetables the sad result people here especially like this dry rice canned meat and fried egg the national dish then like the taste and the big size now and the white people feel like the place and the cook and last but not least this strange island has one of the craziest laws in the world it is connected to the islanders favorite hobby driving cars if a puddle comes into play the full rigor of the law strikes mercilessly whoever drives through a puddle and splashes someone goes to jail in bad places for several hours luckily there aren't many pedestrians because everyone prefers driving a car to walking [Music] from the craziest island in the world we travel on to zhongdong in china a very special village in the middle of a cave as large as an aircraft hangar sixteen wooden huts form a small village [Music] [Music] he built it himself lives here together with his wife his three daughters and his mother-in-law [Music] they sleep upstairs [Music] a total of 18 families almost 90 people live here far from any semblance of civilization the doors are always open there are no locks food clothing electronic devices all is used in common saturday was saint paul new york sanseto [Applause] [Music] pigs goats and chickens the inhabitants keep their own animals for their survival slaughtering and smoking they do all of that themselves they also grow vegetables whatever is left over is sold on the market in the city they live off these earnings thanks to the drip stones the water comes straight from the mountains it's potable and very healthy due to the minerals sometimes during spring or fall it even rains inside the caves from the drip stones [Music] wang heng has to go herd the cattle now it truly is an unusual place to live for a seemingly ordinary farming family to guide the huge herd up the narrow mountain trails is a special challenge [Music] the traditional lifestyle is carried on wang heng still has to collect firewood on his way back so the huts remain warm even in winter time with temperatures of 10 degrees below zero [Music] [Music] the kids are spared from this kind of work but they have to attend their own cave school every day the teacher wang long has been teaching here for four years he lives in the cave himself [Music] xiaofeng is an especially keen student she has great plans for her future when the school was built inside the cave the builders saved money on the roof [Music] from the club in their spare time the kids enjoy painting the cave [Music] but life in the cave can also be dangerous but it's not just the stones that are dangerous the isolation also entails dangers they make the best of it the cave boys love playing basketball and sometimes when it rains other inhabitants of other villages come here to play indoors the crazy thing about it there has been no need for the cave dwellers to live here for a long time the government has especially built proper houses for the poorer people in the area but nonetheless wang heng does not want to move [Music] building structures and that's not all there is no water being left high and dry unimaginable for wong hang then there is a corner and so the inhabitants continue living the lifestyle of their ancestors in the sixth generation by now the cave dwellers intend to attract more tourists in the future we leave the cave village and travel on to the area near minya in egypt this is a limestone mine in the middle of the desert the men that work here are working on a tough but also important job under extreme conditions the workers mine limestone which is then processed into tiles medicine and building material in other countries [Music] [Music] 1500 mines in the region together with his parents his wife his two children his three brothers and their families he lives in a small house he has a particular reason for taking on this tough work every day guerrillas wants to be able to send his kids to school something that's not a matter of course in egypt [Music] gorillas invites us to spend a day in the mine with him and his colleagues we show up at the agreed meeting point at 4 30 am but in this complete chaos we can't spot gorillas anywhere we are loaded on board of a pickup together with 20 workmen and there we find gorillas the workmen show a timid reaction towards the camera at first gorillas is the only one who speaks to us and shares an important piece of advice foreign after half an hour of a bumpy ride through the desert we see the first lights is that the limestone mine already gorillas tells his men to hurry up temperatures are supposed to reach 40 degrees today and the day's work needs to be done at all costs we can't yet see a great deal of the mine in the darkness dispersed white dust makes it difficult for us to breathe the deafening noise roars in our ears but as the sun comes up we see it a 10 000 square meter large limestone mine we're not allowed to enter by ourselves too dangerous carefully gorillas leads us down a steep stairway the further down we go the more we are blinded by the snow white rocks without sunglasses we wouldn't be able to see anything at a all setting like in a science fiction movie looms before us these strangely clothed men mine simple limestone here but the dangers lurking behind the mining are immense guerrillas leads us directly to a danger zone [Music] special caution is advised we are under no circumstances allowed to touch anything guerrilla shows us how to protect ourselves from the sun with a scar the scarf has a great advantage it protects us from the extreme heat temperatures of more than 45 degrees are not uncommon in the mine we begin to realize what gorillas warned us about [Music] open power cables everywhere a merciless heat and biting dust which hurts in the lungs with every breath you take if the mining is so dangerous why do the workers expose themselves to these hazards there are two reasons for it first of all limestone has a long tradition in egypt the white blocks have been used as building material for graves and pyramids ever since the first dynasty and secondly the work in the mines is one of the best paid jobs in the region but the mining is not just dangerous it also demands utmost precision in spite of the machines which are hard to navigate because every single rock must be of exactly the same size otherwise the limestone blocks are useless for building and can't be sold thanks to the geological conditions in egypt there is an almost inexhaustible reservoir of limestone the greater part of the limestone originates from the flat sea and was lifted above sea level by tectonic processes [Music] the first thing we notice in spite of the sharp blades and the power cables almost all workmen walk around in flip flops protective clothing looks different [Music] the extremely fine dust and the dry heat makes working much more difficult but the machines and the sharp saw blades also pose a threat our cameraman gets too close to the stone saw and distracts the machine operator the machine tilts and leaps out of track the workers stop the cutting process and separate the machine from the power supply [Music] parts of the saw blade have come off several of the sharp shafts are missing that's what the workers fear most the shafts can fly through the air like bullets ah luckily nothing happened unfortunately things have often gone wrong in the past throwing the blades away is out of the question one sawblade costs 500 egyptian pounds about 30 dollars and the mind does not yield enough to be able to afford better equipment to keep costs down is a top priority for the mine workers kamal the owner of the mine is hardly able to pay for costly equipment in order for the mine to be profitable here too it's time is money pressure is high every day there are many competitors about 1 500 mines in the area if you don't deliver you're out that's one of the reasons why carrillos and his team only take a break after four hours of hard work and they've truly earned it the men regain their strength eating bread and tomato soup the first thing we notice no one eats and rests by himself because the team spirit is essentially after the break there are only four hours left to fulfill the daily quota then it gets too hot the guys have to step it up a notch the men work eight hours in the blazing sun for about six dollars a day that's about two days of food for the entire family sunday is the only day off the men are proud of their work in spite of all the hardships involved [Music] [Music] almost 45 000 men work as day laborers in the mines they have no health or social insurance if you don't work you don't get paid guerrillas is not just a foreman he's also the owner's right-hand man he's in charge of selling the stones one of the customers tries to outwit kirilis but he smells a rather the foreman takes it with a pinch of salt but prevails in the end business is business in the meantime the heat gets to us temperatures above 40 degrees are too much as a precaution gorillas takes us into the shade we've just been here half a day and are already totally beat that alone shows what a performance these men are delivering after a short break we look around some more and discover more workmen at the side of the mine [Applause] the egyptian workers try to turn every particle of dust to money they waste none of the white gold they can't afford after eight hours of arduous work the men have done it the quota has been met they have mined almost 50 000 stones today exhausted but happy that nobody got hurt during the dangerous work they enjoy a refreshment the truck takes us back to the village together with the miners a small group stays behind to guard the mine and the equipment [Music] shortly after leaving the mine there's nothing left to be seen of the snow white landscape just a barren desert as is usual here the workers get their pay in cash every day [Laughter] [Music] and his men will be toiling in the snow white desert once again tomorrow [Music] we say our goodbyes and travel on to sao paulo in brazil this is rafael he is essential to the brazilian recycling system even though he doesn't work for a garbage removal company he collects rubbish from the streets and makes money from it is what it means to live off the garbage and how much money you can make by doing that is something we want to find out we accompany raphael for a day we will also get to know his family the first thing we notice the huge cart raphael always pulls along brazilians call such a cart it weighs 100 kilograms and is raphael's most important tool he had the cart built years ago and has immortalized his motto on both sides of it your garbage is my luxury [Music] behind he secures it with this chain because the carts actually do get stolen raphael lives and works in sao paulo a 12 million mega city the garbage collectors have split up the districts between themselves this is rafael's district whatever he finds here he can sell to the recycling industry even though he doesn't make much money with cardboard he depends on every cent rafael also offers pickup service in his district this house owner takes advantage of the offer and doesn't even have to pay for it rafael picks up the cardboard for free because he can turn it into a bit of money later i said but there is garbage on the streets that yields much more than these huge piles of cardboard for example empty beverage cans the beverage cans involve a longer story as we will hear later on but even if rafael can only lead a modest life collecting garbage he has chosen so for himself rafael wants to introduce us to his family and invites us to his home he has been together with his wife sandra for 25 years they got to know each other at work sandra also used to work as a garbage collector today she takes care of the family meanwhile the couple has 10 children and even grandchildren they live together on just a few square [Music] [Music] the family doesn't own much but there is internet available the older ones like surfing on facebook raphael allows himself a different luxury his passion is music he is especially proud of his stereo he relaxes listening to brazilian music after a tough workday back on the streets we understand sandra's worries when we get to a traffic junction raphael struggles to cross the 12-lane roadway without any crush zone in sao paulo this is everyday life traffic is literally murderous rafael is not the only garbage collector in sao paulo it's a tough competition each one in his district with his own contacts rafael is on his way to one of his contacts he can collect valuable material at this snack bar beverage cans they are made of aluminium and are easy to sell we look at what raphael has collected so far the cardboard yields just 12 cents per kilo but he has also found more valuable material which will yield more he gets 45 cents for a kilo of these pet bottles he sells the cans for 66 cents he receives about 37 cents for a kilo of soft plastic [Music] many garbage collectors work together the government keeps out because each material will later on be recycled in different ways the main job here is to sort the garbage the garbage raphael collects is just a fraction of the copperachieva's junk the staff collects most of it from apartments and companies by truck [Music] altogether there are 26 members in this coprachiiva there is no real boss joao has been here for three years already for him the brazilian garbage association was the chance of his lifetime every month up to 70 tons of recycled garbage are sold here apart from electronic devices cardboard and plastic we also discover the cans they are especially guarded because but why are these cans so sought after they consist of 100 aluminium a valuable raw material it costs much less energy to melt the aluminium down from the cans than to extract it from the earth that's why recycling companies pay good money for the scrap metal raphael's family can only lead a very modest life with this income even though it theoretically belongs to the middle class with an income of four hundred dollars raphael keeps on going through the streets of sao paulo with his kawasa to make his children's wishes come true and we move on to guangzhou in china there is a very special building among the many multi-story buildings in this city with its two million inhabitants it is completely encircled by a motorway roundabout [Music] the four-lane road leads all the way around the building so close you can even look inside through the windows it's funny because we're really like going around now i guess we have to find the way to get through it it's surprisingly easy to find the exit the house has its own allegedly there are even people living inside hard to imagine this is the closest part to the building isn't it yeah because if you look above [Music] what does it look like from up above we want to find out and let our camera fly up into the air now the full dimensions are visible it is in fact an eight-storey building sandwiched by a four-lane road just about four meters between the building and the highway at the narrowest point [Music] we learn the highway is not that old it's the access road to an important tunnel of the city you can see the building is not really occupied by me i think the first floor used to be shops but now it's all closed down here the building seems deserted but we have made an appointment over the phone there must be a family living inside somewhere we look for an entrance there at a side entrance a decorated door [Music] we meet 47 year old gaul he is a taxi driver we ask him how many people live in the house [Music] there are seven people on 70 square meters gold wants to show us the main building first he as opposed to us hasn't seen the disastrous building from up above yet almost all other tenants have fled in the upper floors directly next to the highway the exhaust fumes and the noise are unbearable gore would have left too but he has a controversy with the authorities they deny him the right to an adequate substitution for his condominium shows us the way up to the roof up there he says we'll see why everyone has left on the inside the house looks like a ruin the reason in the beginning the government had started building measures to protect the tenants but quickly abandoned them half-done building measures are a common means by which the chinese government gets rid of unwanted tenants because the building is to be demolished new windows why did they do it it's just fake windows it doesn't even move so it looks like it's a househouse window it doesn't look like broken so from the highway so it looks good go improvises a path up to the roof he has repeatedly tried to make the authorities realize what the highway means for himself and the remaining tenants to no avail up on the roof we realize it is unbelievably loud i'm just saying it's it's unbelievable gore's apartment is encircled in a raging highway tornado the controversy with the authorities has been going on for several months no one gives way go it's not as bad downstairs as gold that's why he doesn't want to give in and stays on for the moment the government wants to demolish the building and create green spaces but as long as gore remains they can't do that a deadlock situation back downstairs gol shows us his apartment it's narrow there are seven people living on 70 square meters they try to cover up the sickening smell of the exhaust fumes by using incense sticks and of course it's still loud but nothing like the noise on the roof since nobody takes care of the building several pipes have started to leak but go improvises once more perseverance is his motto and the law forbids the government to evict the tenants but the continuous traffic noise gets to [Applause] [Music] himself [Music] this is the view from the family's living room go also shows us the small bedroom the family sleeps as far away as possible from the window it's impossible to take a rest here after a long day of cab driving but it's still better than what the authorities offer as compensation is he angry on on what's going on by and so the yellow and white building will stay in the middle of the highway a little while longer until well until go and the authorities have reached an agreement [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 2,346,422

Rating: 4.6920938 out of 5

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), lost places, mystery places, cold war, Abandoned places, Abandoned, abandoned house, mysterious places, abandoned buildings, explore with us, cave village, roundabout, special roundabout, roundabout china, working in the desert, garbage collector

Id: ZQobKGxPmLY

Length: 52min 30sec (3150 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 24 2020